Nature
What is this web site about?
This web site provides resources on life and science in Okanogan County and North-Central Washington.
These web pages were made to encourage outdoor education and research in the fresh air, away from your computer. Nature still breathes strong along the east slope of the North Cascades. As I gaze out my window in Twisp, I see the foothills of the Chelan-Sawtooth Range to the west and the the Okanogan Range to the east. The main river here is the Methow River Valley of Okanogan County, Washington, a tributary of the Columbia River in Washington.
The primary focus of this website is to provide scientific resources in ecology, botany, invading species, plant chemistry, pollution, conservation. This website also is a networking tool for internet communication. Scientists are not robots, but they are frequently misperceived. I have more to say about the scientific community in here. If I was more artistic, there would be an arts page. Sigh. The Journal page begins with a broad overview of the chaotic social experiment called Western Civilization.
Those who keep abreast of computer networking are becoming aware of the power of Web 2.0 as a force of social change (see Tim O'Reilly's 2005 essay). But for most of the public, the power to improve our lives through collective intelligence remains unfathomed, particularly for those who are averse to digital realities, and like, c'mon, don't even have a blog. The pack of companies leading this revolution--Wikipedia, eBay, Amazon, YouTube, Google--are more than just amusements. They are actively shaping the way that civilization works. The balance of good and bad in that remains to be seen, but so far, it looks good. None of us has the time to save the world, but collectively, we might actually accomplish something.